Author: Jacob Canon

In today’s show, adapted from an article written by Fariss Samarrai, Senior News Officer with the Office of Public Affairs, we discuss the research of a multi-institutional team of scientists, including Bob Hirosky, a University of Virginia associate professor of physics, and their attempt to verify or refute the existence of the Higgs boson, which is theorized to be the essence of all matter, and the ultimate basis of everything in the universe.

Man’s eternal quest to understand the world we live in has led to a series of discoveries that questioned the conventional thinking of the time. In centuries past the great minds that have advanced human knowledge have either been lauded or treated as heretics. Today’s more tolerant and informed world of science has delved into the deep reaches of space, as well as the smallest inner workings of all matter.

Just recently, an international effort to understand the most basic structure of matter has yielded a particle that is critical to further understanding of the universe and its evolution.

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In today’s show, adapted from an article written for the U.Va. Engineer , the Alumni Magazine of the UVA School of Egineering and Applied Science, by freelance writer Charlie Feigenoff, we discuss the research of Silvia Salinas Blemker, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, who is trying to identify reasons and mechanics of hamstring pulls.

When the world’s best sprinters stepped up to the mark at the 100 meter final during this summer’s Olympic Games in Peking, they were moments away from subjecting their leg muscles to thousands of pounds of force as they fought to be first across the finish line less than 10 seconds later. By and large, their leg muscles handled the strain well, but inevitably one or more of these elite runners, despite intense conditioning, will suffer a hamstring pull during the track and field season.

As Silvia Salinas Blemker, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of Virginia’s School of Engineering and Applied Science has said, “Of all the muscles that work together when we run quickly, the muscles in the hamstring group are most subject to injury, and one particular hamstrings muscle, the biceps femoris long head, is most commonly injured.”

For more information about the show or to see the full text, visit the Oscar Show’s blog

In today’s show, adapted from an article written by Brevy Cannon, general assignment writer for UVa’s Office of Public Affairs, we discuss the research of Ron Williams, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, and his teams research of how to make more intelligent climate control systems, to aid in energy efficiency.

It’s not a new energy-saving concept to turn down your thermostat at night, or leave your air conditioner off when no one is home. A research team plans to take that concept to the next level by using automated sensors and sophisticated software to enable heating and cooling systems to respond to the number of occupants in a room at any given time.

The research team, which recently won a new UVa Collaborative Sustainable Energy Seed Grant worth about $30,000 to investigate how to make more intelligent climate control systems, includes Ron Williams, a professor of electrical and computer engineering…

For more information about the show or to see the full text, visit the Oscar Show’s blog.

In today’s show, adapted from an article written by Fariss Samarrai, senior news officer for UVa’s Office of Public Affairs, we discuss the research of Jessica Voorhees Norris, a Ph.D. candidate in forensic chemistry at UVa, who has developed a method for handling rape kit evidence that reduces part of the DNA analysis time from 24 hours to as little as 30 to 45 minutes.

With approximately 250,000 items of sexual assault evidence mired in three- to 12-month backlogs as they await analysis in U.S. forensic laboratories, there is an alarming nationwide need for a time-efficient way to get this work done. And according to Jessica Voorhees Norris, a Ph.D. candidate in forensic chemistry, she has found a better way. She developed a method for handling rape kit evidence that reduces part of the DNA analysis time from 24 hours to as little as 30 to 45 minutes and improves the sperm cell recovery rate by 100 percent. If her method is adopted by forensic labs – and the results accepted by courts – the backlog could potentially be reduced within months.

For more information about the show or to see the full text, visit the Oscar Show’s blog.

In today’s show, adapted from an article written by David Foreman, writer for UVa’s Health System Media Relations Department, we look at University of Virginia researcher; Richard J. Price, who has received a three-year grant from The Hartwell Foundation to further his research on an innovative method to treat pediatric brain tumors.

Technical advancements in the past decade have made it possible to extend the basic principles of non-invasive, high-intensity, focused ultrasound for destroying organ-confined tumors. However, ultrasound beam aberrations and localized non-specific heating created by the skull are impediments to brain tumor treatment, which could be especially profound in developing children…

For more information about the show or to see the full text, visit the Oscar Show’s blog.

In today’s show, adapted from an article written by Anne Bromley, senior writer and editor for UVa Media Relations, we look at well-known writer, scholar and editor of African-American literature for both academic and general audiences, Deborah E. McDowell who was recently named director of the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies at UVa.

Well-known writer, scholar and editor of African-American literature for both academic and general audiences, Deborah E. McDowell, was recently named director of the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies at UVa.

The Woodson Institute, an interdisciplinary teaching and research center, was established in 1981 in response to student and faculty requests for a more coherent African-American and African Studies program and a more aggressive program of minority recruitment at the University. It is named after Carter Woodson, the “father of African-American history,” to honor the Virginia-born founder of African and African-American Studies who also inaugurated Black History Week (now Black History Month).

For more information about the show or to see the full text, visit the Oscar Show’s blog.

In today’s show, written by Karen Doss Bowman is a freelance writer living in Bridgewater, VA, we look at Rachael Beaton, a first year grad student at the University of Virginia, whose galactic discoveries have earned her international attention.

First-year graduate students aren’t usually given historic research assignments. But after years of waiting for the opportunity to make their first observation on the Large Binocular Telescope or LBT, in Tucson, Ariz., UVa’s astronomy faculty voted last fall to bestow the honor on first-year graduate student Rachael Beaton (Astronomy-Physics, Mathematics ’07, MS Astronomy ’10).

Beaton used the LBT, whose construction was completed last fall and is the world’s largest optical telescope in which the University shares ownership, to take images of one of the breakthrough discoveries she had made before receiving her undergraduate degree, a dwarf galaxy she had discovered in 2006…

For more information about the show or to see the full text, visit the Oscar Show’s blog.